Water-soluble polymeric films are commonly used as packaging materials to simplify dispersing, pouring, dissolving and dosing of a material to be delivered. For example, pouches made from water-soluble film are commonly used to package household care compositions such as laundry or dish detergent. A consumer can directly add the pouched composition to a mixing vessel, such as a bucket, sink or washing machine.
Composition-filled water-soluble pouches or “unit dose pouches” may be manufactured on high-speed production lines. The production lines typically comprise a series of steps or stations at which different portions of the unit dose pouch are made and/or modified. These steps are often accomplished at the highest possible speed in order to achieve high output and low production costs. Yet, it remains desirable to maintain certain quality standards for the finished product. As such, high-speed production lines typically include a means of inspecting the unit dose pouches.
The high-speed manufacture of unit dose pouches requires precision in forming and sealing the water-soluble films together to form filled pouches. If problems arise, including, but not limited to, those related to film indexing or timing of the filling and sealing, then leaky unit dose pouches may be formed. One current means of inspecting leaky unit dose pouches involves their collection at the end of the pouch converting line. The unit dose pouches are collected into a hopper, which is then inspected for contamination by the pouch composition. However, if a leak is found at this point in the production process, a large number of leaky unit dose pouches may have already been produced. This can be particularly problematic when a liquid composition leaks onto a neighboring water-soluble pouch since it may cause premature degradation of the neighboring pouch. Moreover, if a leak is found, the entire production line may need to be shut down for decontamination.